O Captain! My Captain!


"O Captain! My Captain!" is an extended metaphor poem written in 1865 by Walt Whitman, about the death of American president Abraham Lincoln. The poem was first published in the pamphlet Sequel to Drum-Taps which assembled 18 poems regarding the American Civil War, including another Lincoln elegy, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". It was included in Whitman's comprehensive collection Leaves of Grass beginning with its fourth edition published in 1867. The poem emphasizes grief and sorrow.

Text

Analysis

Walt Whitman composed the poem "O Captain! My Captain!" after Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865. The poem is classified as an elegy or mourning poem, and was written to honor Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Walt Whitman was born in 1819 and died in 1892, and the American Civil War was the central event of his life. Whitman was a staunch Unionist during the Civil War. He was initially indifferent to Lincoln, but as the war pressed on, Whitman came to love the president, though the two men never met.
"O Captain! My Captain!" became one of Whitman's most famous poems, one that he would read at the end of his famous lecture about the Lincoln assassination. Whitman became so identified with the poem that late in life he remarked, "Damn My Captain...I'm almost sorry I ever wrote the poem."

In popular culture

A musical version of the poem appears on Carolyn Hester's 1965 live album At Town Hall.
The song was translated to Hebrew by Naomi Shemer; it was set to music and performed by Israeli singer Meital Trabelsi in a television special that aired on the first anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and this rendition has been associated with the event ever since in Israel.
After actor Robin Williams' death in August 2014, fans of his work used social media to pay tribute to him with photo and video reenactments of the Dead Poets Society "O Captain! My Captain!" scene.